It may come as a surprise to many a citizen of the United States that our elected officials in the Congress and Senate do not actually read the laws that they vote on. And with bills that are usually hundreds of pages long, I don’t blame them… almost.
It is actually common practice for our elected officials to skip their duty to read what they vote on, and simply skim over a one-page sheet summarizing the legislation only a few minutes before the vote. Even worse, it is common practice for the people sponsoring the bill to change/add key parts to the text, no more than an hour before the vote, therefore sneaking laws into our legal system. This is how the much loved Patriot Act became law in our nation.
Just today I Stumbled Upon the Read the Bills Act, which is a piece of attempted legislation by the Downsize D.C. activist group, aimed at making our elected officials actually read what they vote on. Among other things, it would require that any bill due to be voted on would be posted on the Internet a week before the voting, and that during that time it could not be edited in secret.
The idea behind this act is so simple, I see no reason why anyone would vote against it. However, that is exactly what will happen if the lobbyist crowd in D.C. is more active about this issue than we are. It is important that we make our voices heard on this issue.
If you would like to let your senator or congressmen know where you stand on this issue, please click here. You’ll be taken to a simple form where you can fill out your contact info, and personalize the email that will be automatically sent to your elected officials.
